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OK I Don't Get Gibsons - Help me here


pmjos
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[quote name='pmjos' timestamp='1473531040' post='3131061']
No matter how I try I cannot find the remotest, miniscule GAS molecule for anything Gibson. I know, they are iconic, I know they are a part of bass history. Help me here..............I just don't get it.
[/quote]

Neither do I. Never had the remotest interest in any of their basses. So you are not alone in this :-)

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I'll tell you what it is. cannot believe that there is not somewhere in today's sounds for a classic Gibson. I just can't hear it. I can't find it, Everyone says its looks cool, or loved it in that day but are they now just history? Who uses a Gibson today? I know Brian Leiser from FLC uses a LP but its dark stuff very dub.

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Sometime in the future I'd like to own an old EB3, but I can't really see myself using it for a whole lot. In fact, it would mostly be because of the Cornick connection. I've tried one of the newer SG basses but it didn't feel particularly great to me, and of course they don't have the interesting 5-way (I think) chicken switch.

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I'm sure there's been a few threads on this topic, and bottom line is if you don't get it - you don't get it (as for any brand with a distinctive identity)

Most people associate a "Gibson sound" with the typically warm, rather thuddy sound that their mahogany bodied, usually short-scale basses fitted with humbuckers made during the 1960's tended to produce. Since then they've used a range of other tonewoods, pickups, and circuitry - the Grabbers, Rippers and Explorers can sound very "Fendery" and the RD Arists can do about any tone there is. IMHO from the early '60's to the early '80's Gibson pushed the boundaries of bass design in terms of styling and ideas far more than (for instance) Fender and Rickenbacker ever tried to. I'd agree that they've been rather uninspiring since then though

I own far too many basses, but Gibsons have always been the core ('58 EB-2, '65 Thunderbird IV, '69 EB-2D, '78 RD Artist, '81 RD Artist CMT) - for me it's because I like the warm, harmonic-rich tone of the earlier basses, I'm a big fan of semi- acoustics, and the playing ergonomics of the reverse-bodied basses suit me. As said above, they look good too.

Edited by Shaggy
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Im not adverse to a Gibson i had a 1976 EB3 and a Gibson victory bass
much as i wanted to love the EB3 the neck dive on mine made it uncomfortable to play
i did buy a 2014 SG bass nice enough bass, but like others have said it doesnt have that sound ie Andy Fraser Jack Bruce
so sold it on
i liked the victory though it had that Gibson sound deep and plummy
im yet to try a gibson thunderbird or Rd artist, both basses i think i would probably like
and also they always seem well priced compared to vintage fenders

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Gigged a couple of LP Triumphs through the '90s followed by 2008 SG re-issue. Loved 'em all to bits but they all went because their user-unfriendliness was starting to cause me physical problems: the LPs were as heavy as the proverbial millstone, and the SG had poor strap balance and positioning. Much as I love Gibsons, Leo's the man who got it right and if I had bigger hands I'd be playing nothing but Fenders or their clones.

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Martin Turner has played T'birds for donkey's years, his tone on Argus et al is pretty marvellous. I think The Ox used one on Who's Next too, maybe even Quadrophenia, although that might be a Fenderbird. Didn't Stuart Zender have a dalliance with a Triumph?

Edited by ezbass
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